Athletics coach ejected after Royals pitcher’s broken chain leads to quick pitch controversy

Normally on the diamond, jewelry isn’t much of an issue for baseball players, but Michael Wacha’s necklace broke and caused an explosive chain reaction.

In the first inning of the Athletics’ 5-2 win over the Kansas City Royals Wednesday night at Sutter Health Park, Wacha’s chain broke. As Wacha was standing on the mound, he gathered the broken chain from his neck and put it in his back pocket.

Immediately after putting his chain away, Wacha started his delivery to beat the pitch clock and fired a sinker in for a strike. 

However, Athletics left fielder Carlos Cortes was not ready for the pitch because he thought time might be granted for Wacha’s broken chain.

Athletics coach Chris Cron took issue with Wacha’s quick pitch and let John Libka hear it. Cron was ejected almost immediately after complaining to Libka.

“I’m not listening to you, not you,” Libka said, his comments heard on a broadcast. “Get out of here!”

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay then walked out to Libka to clarify which member of his coaching staff was ejected.

Athletics’ broadcaster Dallas Braden was impressed with how seamless Wacha’s delivery was after putting his chain away.

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“How about that. All in one fell swoop. Michael Wacha gonna put the chain in his back pocket,” Braden said.

“What (Cron) is upset about is the fact that Cortes was standing in the box, and then he waited because Wacha was clearly dealing with an issue, dealing with something, didn’t step off and all in one motion took the chain off, put it in his back pocket and then stepped right into his windup, delivery and came home,” Braden said.

“At no point was Cortes engaged after Wacha decided to get the motion going.”

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Cron couldn’t just turn around and walk down the tunnel into the clubhouse. Because the clubhouse is in the outfield, Cron had to walk through the field. As he walked, fans gave him a round of applause.

Cortes ended up walking in that at-bat, so no harm, no foul. He went 2-for-3 in the A’s win.

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